CNN's GUT CHECK | for March 10, 2014 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

CIA ACCUSED OF SPYING ON CONGRESS
FEINSTEIN SAYS AGENCY ACCESSED SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE COMPUTERS
The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee suggested Tuesday the CIA violated federal law by secretly pulling classified documents from her panel's computers during a staff probe of the spy agency's controversial detention and interrogation program. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said CIA Director John Brennan told her in January that agency personnel searched the computers because they believed the panel's investigators might have had gained access to materials on an internal review they were not authorized to see. – Halimah Abdullah
suggested Tuesday

…CIA Director John Brennan responds: "Nothing could be further from the truth. We wouldn’t do that."
“As far as the allegations of CIA hacking into Senate computers – nothing could be further from the truth. We wouldn’t do that. I mean that’s, that’s, that’s just beyond the scope of reason…When the facts come out on this I think a lot of people who are claiming that there has been this tremendous spying, monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong.”

Washington (CNN) – Ready for Hillary, a super PAC urging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016, is in New Hampshire on Tuesday, working to help influence a Granite State special election before voters go to the ballot box.

Although the move is unique for a national super PAC focused on the 2016 election, it could be considered an early investment that could later pay off in New Hampshire, which holds the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.FULL POST

(CNN) – Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said on Tuesday he would not resign as prosecutors for the first time sought to tie him to a political scandal.

In an interview with CNN, Gray again denied any wrongdoing following the biggest guilty plea so far in the federal probe of a nearly $700,000 unlawful "shadow campaign" that was part of his successful 2010 mayoral run. FULL POST

Washington (CNN) – A close adviser to Hillary Clinton courted and procured money that was later used to fund illegal get-out-the-vote operations during the former secretary of state’s hotly contested 2008 presidential bid, according to allegations formally laid out Monday by federal prosecutors.

The information became public as part of a plea agreement for Jeffrey Thompson, a Washington, D.C. businessman who on Monday pled guilty to conspiracy for masterminding a nearly $670,000 illegal "shadow campaign" for D.C. Mayor Vince Gray’s successful mayoral bid in 2010. But within the documents, Thompson told federal prosecutors that Clinton adviser Minyon Moore approached him to raise funds for the Clinton campaign that would end up amounting to more than $600,000. FULL POST

Trenton, New Jersey (CNN) - A former top aide to Chris Christie was in court on Tuesday to fight a subpoena from a state legislative committee investigating a political scandal roiling the New Jersey governor's administration.

It was Bridget Anne Kelly's first public appearance since losing her job in January over suggestions top Christie appointees orchestrated traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee last year to punish that town's mayor for not backing their boss for reelection.FULL POST

(CNN) – As political observers keep a close eye on the U.S. House special election in Florida, the Republican nominee hoping to keep the district in GOP hands said people shouldn't draw too much from Tuesday night's results.

"This is a local race. There are local issues in this race, it comes down to local representation," David Jolly told CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash.

(CNN) - After Hillary Clinton lost the 2008 primary to President Barack Obama, Alan Patricof, a wealthy financier who had helped raise sizable donations to the Clinton campaign, took a step back from politics.

That all changes Tuesday night, when the owner of Apax Partners hosts President Barack Obama for a high-dollar fundraiser aimed at filling the campaign coffers of the Democratic National Committee and helping the Democratic body retire some of its campaign debt.FULL POST